How worms develop in humans and their treatment

7 December 2021

Colon or other worms in humans are an invasion that affects the entire body. This disease is caused by infection with eggs and larvae of worms and is characterized by a number of specific symptoms.

The diagnosis is made through several tests, both feces and blood. Worms in the abdomen and other organs occur in adults and children, can appear in the anus, stool, or do not manifest themselves in any way.

causes

Worms in the intestine are mainly transmitted fecal-orally; H. for infection, the eggs of parasites or the larvae of the worm must be swallowed. An unpleasant feature of this invasion is that some species of helminths in children and adults remain viable for a long time outside the host's body (for example, in water, in the ground).

The eggs of the parasites that the adults lay there remain infectious for several months. This property makes some types of worms very common in children and adults.

The main routes of infection are as follows:

Contagion through the use of untreated water that can flow into a well, natural reservoir, and even from a tap. Almost all intestinal parasites in humans survive and reproduce for a long time in water, so it is better to drink bottled water. In hygienically unfavorable areas, the water in the well can only be used after a long period of boiling;
The appearance of a worm in a baby's bum can occur from eating a poorly washed vegetable. When the soil infected with worms is fertilized with fertilizer, their larvae, eggs and adults appear and survive in the soil for a long time. The eggs fall on the vegetables together with soil particles. If such a vegetable is poorly washed, it will penetrate the host's body and provoke a helminthic invasion in a person;
Flatulence and other characteristic symptoms of infestation can occur after eating contaminated meat, fish, or poultry. If an animal, bird or fish suffers from a helminth infestation while it is alive, there is a high probability that its flesh is also infected, while parasites (e. g. fish) easily nestle in the human body. You can get rid of them only through careful and prolonged heat treatment of meat (boiling or frying at maximum temperatures). You can also defeat the invasion by freezing. However, since most modern household freezers can deliver a maximum temperature of around 8 degrees, it is necessary to keep meat, fish or poultry there for at least a week;
Signs of worm infection in humans may appear after contact with a pet. Dogs and cats walking on the street almost always have worms in their stomachs (domestic cats are usually not infected). When carrying out hygiene measures, the animal distributes the worm's eggs from the anus throughout the fur. If you kiss such an animal or do not wash your hands after contact, you can get worms into the human body, since animal invasions take root and multiply in the human body;
A person may notice gas and other signs of helminths even after swimming in an infected pond. This is a rare method, but infection is possible;
The transmission of helminthiasis in humans from one individual to another occurs through surfaces, towels, bed linen. Eggs and larvae migrate from the skin of an infected person to the surface or into the tissue and from there migrate to the skin of a healthy person when they come into contact. After that, there is a chance that they will get into a healthy person's oral cavity and develop an infection.

It should be remembered that many types of intestinal parasites are common in children's groups. This is due to the fact that many children do not care too much about hygiene, and many areas in kindergartens are covered with helminth eggs, the photo of which is presented below, even if initially only one child was sick.

It is for this reason that the main task of parents is to explain to the baby that all types of worms are dangerous in humans and that they can remain on the skin of the hands and get into the mouth from it. For this reason, good hygiene is important. A video about the spread of worms in women, men and children and the specifics of their development is published at the end of the material.

sorts

Some patients are interested in what color the worms are and how to visually tell what they are in the stool? Most commonly these are white or light-colored worms, although see-through worms are sometimes found in humans as well. They are flat or round, sometimes they have two dark food channels on the sides.

The largest human worms are called tapeworms. The largest in this group is the bull tapeworm. According to scientific research, they can live in the intestine for up to 40 years and can grow to be several meters long.

Roundworms are the most common type of pest that belongs to the roundworm nematodes. Can such people be very tall? Females reach a length of about 25 cm, males - 12 cm;

Pinworms are more common in children than adults. These are small individuals, similar to roundworms, but smaller. The largest pinworm barely reaches 10-12 cm;

Giardia is the smallest type of parasite. It's pretty common. If it is found in the stool, then you need to think about what to do with worms and start choosing a treatment.

Trichinosis invasions are characterized by the most severe course, fever and facial edema are present. Such invasions are called those caused by Trichinella nematodes.

The most common types of individuals share features and are visible in the feces. Therefore, the stool of a person with worms can be distinguished from the stool of an uninfected person.

Localization

Some people who suspect they have an invasion are interested in where in the human body the worms are located? Although it is traditionally believed that worms are found in the intestines of the human body, this is not entirely true.

Almost all types of helminths in humans can develop in many organs and systems, which is associated with the peculiarities of their migration, when the larvae hatched from eggs in the intestine get into the bloodstream and with it spread throughout the body.

They get into the human body through the mouth, but their manifestation can occur in the following places:

Subcutaneous parasites are not a very common type of tropical parasite that is transmitted by insects (tsetse fly, certain tropical mites, etc. ). Parasites under the skin are almost never found on the middle lane, but there is a risk of infection with them on a tour. Such parasites are localized under the skin only in the initial stages of their life cycle, after which they can move into the muscles.
A common place where localization is observed in women is the vagina, uterus. They can crawl there from the anus or infect the reproductive system in the migratory stage;
Worms in the ears of a baby or an adult are also found because the larvae often infect the ENT organs (including the throat);
Many worms choose the digestive system and intestines as the site of localization. There they have enough food (blood and serum) and oxygen to maintain a normal life. Treating intestinal parasites is usually easier than others. But even if they were initially in a person's stomach, over time they can infect other organs;
Signs of worms in the lungs can be confused with the characteristic symptoms of pleurisy or pneumonia. But this is a common place of localization of worms, so it is important to diagnose their presence in a timely manner.
When parasites creep into the brain, the nervous system is damaged. It can manifest itself as convulsions, irritability, unreasonable fear, etc . ;
When worms manifest in the heart in humans, tachycardias, arrhythmias, and more are possible. In particularly severe cases, heart failure develops;
Helminths are also common in the liver, where they mainly get from the intestines through the portal vein.

As can be seen from the above, patients wondering where worms live in humans should consider not only the type of invasion but also the stage of infection.

Complications

It is important to know what the worms lead to and what happens if you don't treat them? Worms cause general poisoning of the body, which can be very pronounced.

Allergic symptoms also occur as the immune system produces histamines to defend itself against intrusion. In this case, you need to remember what an allergic rash with helminths looks like - these are medium-sized pink spots, sometimes hives, itching is usually absent.

As with hepatic localization, a tapeworm in humans or another parasite, if localized in other organs, causes damage to the mucous membrane and local inflammatory processes in a small area.

This can lead to an abscess (in the liver with pus penetrating the abdominal cavity and, if left untreated, blood poisoning).

As with damage to the bronchi and lungs, a cough is common. Then bronchitis, pleurisy, or pneumonia develops, which must be treated with antibiotics, although this is a response to the invasion.

With the localization of parasites in the vagina, exacerbations of chronic diseases and disorders of the microflora can occur. It is believed that such a phenomenon can lead to infertility.

Symptoms

The symptoms of worms in humans are varied, but they are characteristic of almost all types of parasites. However, chronic and acute infections can have different symptoms in adults. In the case of an acute infection, the following symptoms are characteristic:

Elevated temperature in normal general condition (up to 38 degrees);
Chills and skin symptoms (rashes) similar to fever;
If the larvae are localized in the lungs or bronchi, then symptoms in the body are expressed by coughing;
Inflammatory processes are signs of the presence of worms in the human body, therefore there is an increase in lymph nodes;
Worms and allergies in a person are linked, so signs of the appearance of worms in a person are possible in the form of rashes and allergic reactions.

But the most common symptoms of the presence of worms in humans are intestines, since this is where the parasite is most often localized. These are symptoms of worm infection in a person, such as:

Stool disorders - constipation or diarrhea, sometimes bloody;
The first symptoms of worms are loss of appetite, nausea, aversion to certain foods that eventually lead to weight loss;
The first signs of worms in adults may also be gas and gas;
Over time, abdominal and stomach pain develop, regardless of food intake, intermittent or constant;
In worms, a person develops symptoms of general intoxication - pallor, drowsiness, chronic fatigue, etc.

Skin parasites cause specific symptoms in adults and children. A sign of worms is numbness of the extremities, tingling in the skin, headache, dizziness, much less often - fever. In any case, the incubation period of worms in humans is quite long and can last from several weeks to several months.

Because of this, the first signs of worms may not appear in a person anytime soon. And since almost any symptom of the presence of worms in a person can be indicative of other diseases, often it doesn't become apparent until a person has worms, when they get into the feces.

diagnosis

Even if you know what the worms look like, you may not notice how they look. Some types of worms do not appear for a long time, and diagnosis of worms in humans cannot be done at home. The following methods are used in laboratories to determine the presence of worms, the symptoms and treatment of which are discussed in this article:

General blood analysis. Worms can be if there are deviations. It looks like severe anemia - a significant decrease in iron and hemoglobin levels. It occurs because worms cause local bleeding in humans, constantly damaging the mucous membranes, and they are also parasites that feed directly on blood;
If the worms are in the intestines, their waste products will be in the stool. What signs of worms are visible in a person's feces? These are eggs, larvae, or even adults of parasites. However, knowing what worms look like in humans allows adults to be independently identified in the stool;
Regardless of where the worms come from in humans and what type of worms in humans (protozoa, roundworms, tapeworms), antibodies against them appear in the blood. This is because as soon as a person has worms, the immune system sees them as a foreign invasion and tries to fight against them by producing antibodies. This method helps determine what types of worms are present and what symptoms to expect, as different antibodies are produced for each invasion.

The latter method of diagnosis is especially good because it allows you to learn about worms early on, identify the types of worms, and how to treat worms in humans.

treatment

Some of these patients, who are interested in what human worms look like and how they get into the body, also want to know how to cure them individually. The official drug regimen for worms in adults involves a single dose of an anthelmintic drug that acts on the entire body when a person has worms.

It is also desirable to repeat the course of treatment in adults 2-3 weeks after the first use of the medication. It is necessary to poison small and large infestations twice to completely get rid of the larvae.

Another treatment is recommended if the worms are in children. Because the drugs are toxic, treatment has a negative effect on the liver in adults. For children, drugs are prescribed that can be taken (several times) in a short time, which relieves the liver.

Some of those who wonder how to treat worms in an individual choose popular methods of fighting when worms are naturally eliminated in an adult or child.

A mixture of ground pumpkin seeds with honey is believed to be one-to-one effective against worms when consumed in one tablespoon a day.

Effective treatment is with enemas made from a garlic-milk solution. You can also be treated for worms in the intestines by drinking a similar solution. In the presence of worms in a person, symptoms begin to manifest themselves weaker after a week.

prophylaxis

Knowing where worms come from, where pinworms come from, you can come up with a list of rules that should be followed to protect yourself from worms in humans. In order not to ask the question "Do I have worms", it is worth doing the following:

Wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly;
Cook or fry the meat thoroughly, you can also freeze it for a long time;
Use only bottled or purified water for drinking;
Limit contact with pets and conduct regular helminth prevention;
Regular hand washing, especially after staying in public places.

If infection is suspected, it is recommended that stool regularly inspected for the presence of helminths.